The story about the safari style Landrover brought back vivid memories of my reconnaissance geology training mission in Ethiopia, back when I was a Peace Corps volunteer there in the 1960's.

Most of the year I was teaching sciences at a secondary school 9 to 5 but during the summer vacation we were supposed to do special projects. Since summer was the rainy season in Addis Ababa, I decided I wanted to be somewhere drier and the area around the old railroad center of Dira Dawa, at the foot of a high escarpment, seemed to fit the bill. Making use of my geology training and mapping experience in the wilderness of Maine, I was able to convince the University and the Mining Ministry that I should lead their prospecting students on an 8-week field course. I was provided two brand new Landrover jeeps, camping equipment, surveying accessories, and money for provisions. We were able to use the classrooms of a secondary school in Dira Dawa as our base camp which greatly simplified things.

Everything worked out great. Each morning very early I'd assign an area for a team of two to explore, using air photos, and we'd load up the teams in the Landrovers and head up the dry river valleys which provided a good view of the rock structure. We'd drop off the teams and pick them up a few hours later before it got too unbearably hot. Then we'd head back to town for refreshment at the local pubs, take a siesta, and in the late afternoon process the morning results.

One did have to be careful about working the river valleys. If it rained in the highlands, they were subject to floods. We never got caught but there were a few close calls. And the only time we turned over a Landrover was when some University faculty members were visiting and took one of our vehicles out for a spin. They took a gravel curve at 20 mph and that was it. The Mining Ministry was not too pleased.

Still, the Landrovers were great rugged little cars and with reasonable care would get you most anywhere.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble